The Encyclopedia of Arkansas is a free, authoritative source of information about the rich history, geography, and culture of Arkansas. It is updated regularly to ensure the people of Arkansas have an accurate and accessible resource to explore our heritage. It will also benefit people outside the state who are seeking information about Arkansas. We invite you to browse our text entries and media galleries to learn more about the people, places, events, legends, and lore of the 25th state. This site is a work in progress. We are continually adding new entries, photographs, maps, videos, and audio files, so check back frequently to see what’s new.

Now available!Arkansas in Ink: Gunslingers, Ghosts, and Other Graphic Tales, edited by Guy Lancaster and illustrated by Ron Wolfe, is now available!
In this special print project of the online EOA, Wolfe’s cartoons—accompanied by selected entries from the EOA—highlight the odd, the absurd, and the celebrated in our state’s history. Arkansas in Ink covers such diverse topics as election fraud, singing cowgirl Patsy Montana, bandit queen Belle Starr, diamonds buried in the Arkansas soil, fake artifacts, ghosts lurking in hotel rooms, turkeys dropping from the sky, the mysterious Gurdon Light, and much more. Published by Butler Center Books, it is available at bookstores and from online retailers, including Butler Center Books’ distributor, the UA Press.

The EOA’s other print project, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas Music (Butler Center Books, 2013), is also available at bookstores and from online retailers, including Butler Center Books’ distributor, the UA Press.

Please consider making a tax-deductible gift in honor of 10 great years. Mail donations to: CALS/EOA, 100 Rock St., Little Rock, AR 72201 (checks payable to CALS Foundation, with EOA on the memo line) or CLICK HERE to make a credit card donation through the CALS website. Please note that you must choose Encyclopedia of Arkansas from the drop-down menu under Please select an Endowment.

Visit the Encyclopedia of Arkansas on Facebook.

· March 31, 1830 ·

The appearance of the second Little Rock (Pulaski County) newspaper, the Arkansas Advocate, kicked off the first newspaper war in the state, according to historian Michael Dougan. The conflict between the Arkansas Gazette and the Advocate was as much a printers’ war as a newspaper war, since newspapers were so wrapped up in legal and official printing. The newspapers tried nearly anything to be named the official printer, including bribes and aggressive bidding. A third newspaper, the Political Intelligencer (later changed to the Times), compounded the competition when it appeared in Little Rock in 1834.
(more)

Click any date to view that day in Arkansas history.
Use the « » arrows to move between months.

EOA Goes Global

The EOA has, to date, been visited by 233 countries—a figure which includes recognized sovereign states as well as territories such as Palestine and autonomous regions like the Åland Islands of Finland. We have scored visits from all United Nations members save Guinea-Bissau, though we would also welcome readers from such territories as Svalbard and the Pitcairn Islands. If you have friends or relatives in any of these places, let them know to check out our website!

Native Helena (Phillips County) bluesman CeDell Davis was stricken by polio at age nine, which crippled his right hand. To compensate, he played his guitar in a left-handed bottleneck style, fretting with a butter knife. Though he performed music most of his life, he did not sign a record deal until the 1990s, releasing his debut solo album, Feel Like Doin’ Something Wrong, in 1993.